Policies of a school district have the full force and effect of law and legally bind the school district. Wessington Springs Ed. Assoc. v. Wessington springs Sch. Dist., 467 N.W. 2d 101 (S.D. 1991).
By Gerry Kaufman, ASBSD Director of Policy & Legal Services
ASBSD Policy Services recently overhauled our annual budget sample policies, as well as other finance related sample policies.
ASBSD Policy Services amended sample policy DB: Annual Budget, by incorporating five budget related sample policies into it.
The sample policies incorporated into the new budget sample policy DB: Annual Budget, include:
- DBD: Budget Planning;
- DBH: Budget Adoption;
- DBC: Budget Deadlines and Schedules;
- DBJ: Budget Implementation;
- DBK: Budget Transfer Authority.
“I have for a long time been a believer in one-stop shopping when it comes to policies, as I think it is more user friendly to have closely related matters all in one policy,” Kaufman said.
“I think it is less likely to overlook something than when there are multiple policies on the same general topic.”
Two additional school finance related ASBSD sample policies – DBDA: General Fund Balance, and DIC: Financial Reports and Statements – were amended by the ASBSD Policy Service.
Kaufman noted the amendments were made as a direct result of recent legislative actions related to reports schools are required to submit to the South Dakota Department. of Education.
A typographical error in sample policy GCDB: Criminal Background Checks, has been corrected.
Specifically, SDDCI (South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation) was added to the definition of Local Agency Security Officer definitions, and MSHP was deleted. A few minor amendments in the text and legal references of sample policy JOA: Student Directory Information and a cross reference to a related policy were included.
For questions related to the sample policies, contact Kaufman at gkaufman@asbsd.org or at 605-773-2513.
To access the new sample policy and accompanying forms, school board members and administrators must login to the ASBSD Policy Services Website at http://policy.asbsd.org. Your district’s login and password information has been previously provided to your district’s administration.
If you are not able to access the online policy manual, please contact your district’s administration or ASBSD Policy Services Associate Kay Thompson-Tieszen at kay@asbsd.org.